Cuba: Castro Speaks at Playa Giron Anniversary

PA1804010296 Havana Radio Rebelde Network in Spanish, 2200 GMT 16
Apr 96
PA1804010296
Havana Radio Rebelde Network
Spanish
BFN
[Speech by President Fidel Castro commemorating the
35th anniversary of the Playa Giron invasion at the
headquarters of the Central Army in Matanzas Province --
live relay]

[FBIS Translated Text] Dear compatriots: After an
afternoon of so many memories and so many emotions, of so
many beautiful things, of so many marvelous words, it is
difficult to speak here today. It was essential, however,
that we meet, because a day such as today cannot be
overlooked.

Many things are being commemorated this afternoon,
many important things. First, we must remember that the
socialist nature of the revolution was proclaimed on a day
such as today, on an afternoon such as this one. [applause]
We could say that was the first great artillery round in
response to the aggression. With great pain and much
tradition this afternoon, we remember the comrades who fell
in the repugnant, cowardly, 15 April bombing carried out by
airplanes that bore the insignias of our Air Force to
confuse, deceive, and surprise us.

We recall having spent a sleepless night because a
ship was approaching from the east and the comrades there
were on alert, especially in the area between Maisi and
Baracoa. We saw the planes, which were going to bomb Ciudad
Libertad, overflying the command post, which was a house,
in Vedado and Nuevo Vedado. They fired almost immediately,
but I also recall that not even 20 seconds had passed when
our antiaircraft artillery unit was responding to the fire,
even though it was made up of young and inexperienced
militia men who had had little experience using such
weapons.

One of those planes -- and this was a deliberate plot
by the ememy -- headed for Miami, landed there, and the
pilot claimed to be a deserter of the Cuban Air Force; he
claimed that the pilots had rebelled; that they were not
Yankee planes with Cuban markings, but pilots that had
rebelled. And they proclaimed this wicked lie at the United
Nations. Not even the representative of that country at the
United Nations was told the truth of what had happened. He
was a person known for his relatively decent attitudes and
perhaps they thought they could not count on him.
Everything they do is like this.

This is how things they have done have been throughout
history in each one of their aggressive wars. Those Playa
Giron days were difficult. We knew that imperialism would
not forgive the revolution we were starting. What was this
revolution? It was a revolution of justice. All these laws
that were mentioned here and that Fernando mentioned were
simply the laws of a subjugated, exploited, and humiliated
country, where peasants lacked land; where U.S. companies
were the powerful owners of the country's best land; where
theft was commonplace; where people were killed, tortured,
and murdered; where there was a great number of illiterate
people; where approximately 60 out of 1,000 newborns died
every year; where there were no schools; where 10,000
teachers were jobless. It was a colony where brave and
heroic people lived, people who had fought for a long time
so that the great neighbor to the north would not conquer
them. Because we made agrarian and urban reform laws and
because we started enforcing social justice, they
immediately decided to liquidate the Revolution. They first
believed that the Revolution would be liquidated by taking
away its sugar quota or that by taking away oil supply, by
not selling or not allowing others to sell oil to Cuba.
There were a number of similar measures, in light of which
the Revolution sought formulas to fight and survive. They
would not accept this as an example for the Latin American
people, who were living under similar conditions as ours.
However, they also disdainfully believed that they could
crush us. They did not realize it was a different
revolution, that it was a people's revolution. It was a
revolution of the people, for the people, and by the people
that overthrew one of the best organized and trained armies
they had here in the hemisphere, a point which they did not
understand. They immediately began organizing subversive
groups. They were able to organize up to 300 and 200
groups. They supplied these groups with weapons, resources,
money, political encouragement, support of all kinds. They
began organizing acts of sabotage all over the national
territory, aside from the economic blockade in an attempt
to starve us to death.

The socialist camp and the USSR still existed then. We
all know what happened next. Despite all of that and as
evidence of the sentiment of solidarity and
internationalism, we were supported and helped. Even though
we disagree with the majority, if not all, of what they did
later, we are thankful for what they did for us at the
time. [applause] At the time, it was important. We did not
want to mix the international situation and the Cold War
with our Revolution; however, we were not willing to
relinquish the Revolution. We did not purchase our first
weapons from socialist countries; we went to other Western
countries to purchase them. In certain places, we purchased
rifles, grenade launchers, spare parts, and modern and
automatic rifles by the tens of thousands. We also purchased
cannons and ammunition from a European country. What
happened? One of the ships, the second ship, blew up while
it was unloading in an act of sabotage sponsored from
abroad. It blew up twice, because it was rigged to blow up
at least twice, and more than 100 workers and soldiers who
were unloading this ship died in a matter of seconds.

While they were already preparing the aggressive plans
against Cuba, they wanted to prevent us from purchasing
weapons. At the time, we did not even maintain relations
with the Soviets; we did not maintain diplomatic relations.
However, they were determined to defend us, to fight. So
the first Soviet-made weapons were received, but some of
these weapons came from somewhere else. Some came from
Czechoslovakia; others were weapons the Germans had used in
World War II; yet others were Soviet-made weapons that
reached us through Czechoslovakia. In a short time, we had
a large amount of weapons. Possibly thousands of ships had
brought weapons to us. Not a single ship ever blew up again.
We performed all possible tests; we even launched boxes of
ammunition and grenades from thousands of meters away, and
not a single box or bullet blew up. It could not have been
an accident.

We had weapons, but people were not trained to use
them. We had learned to use some of the cannons and tanks
that had arrived in Cuba when the Revolution succeeded.
This is how we started getting armed. We had to organize
the cadres here. This is why what Fernando was explaining
to us was important. We had to train thousands of cadres in
a matter of weeks or months.

We did not know how much time we had.

When imperialism noticed that the Revolution was
resisting, it sped up the plans on the mercenary invasion.

We knew, after all the measures that had been adopted
against Cuba, in every aspect -- subversion, sabotage,
armed clashes -- that as soon as they had the first
opportunity, the first organized force, they would engage
in sabotage operations to produce in Cuba something similar
to what was done in Guatemala.

Nobody knew how or when. We did believe imperialism
would use this factor. In the meantime, we feverishly got
organized throughout the country. The first Fal rifles we
received, we sent to the mountains. We were getting ready to
fight in the mountains in the event of an aggression. The
concept of what we did later in a larger scale was already
present. We knew that even if the Yankee army were to arrive
here, the Cuban people, possessing thousands of rifles
would be able to fight and to resist. No one ever doubted
this. But then we received flows, we could say, of other
types of weapons: Hundreds of antiaircraft guns, hundreds
of artillery weapons, hundreds of tanks. At least we
thought we had hundreds of tanks. I do not know exactly how
many tanks we had on 17 April 1961, but I can tell you we
had enough to crush 10 Giron-type invasions,
simultaneously. We had a bit over 100.

The population was mobilized throughout the country,
especially in the capital. We concentrated many weapons
there, because it is logical to expect that the invading
enemy would try to seize the country's capital.

We mobilized thousands of militiamen. We had a few
Czechoslovak and Soviet instructors. When they saw what was
going on they said: This is an impossible mission. We need
at least two years to train all these people. We said no.
We have to stop them, and we must do it quickly.

We asked the militia to practice in the afternoon
everything they learned in the morning about tanks,
artillery, and antiaircraft weapons. This is what the group
of instructors did. They realized that this way it was
possible to train hundreds of thousands of people.

We recruited people in the universities, at work
centers, everywhere; many young people for the artillery and
antiaircraft pieces and for the battalions.

Meanwhile, we sped up the training of the official
troops, people who were Sierra Maestra fighters who had been
joining the struggle throughout the country. The personnel
was trained very quickly.

We can say that the weapons we had at hand had arrived
a few weeks, perhaps a few months, before the Giron
invasion.

But Cubans, as you know, learn quickly, and we learned
how to operate these weapons. With regard to the Air Force,
we had been left a few old planes, jet fighters whose names
I do not remember at this moment, some B-26's and three
training jets. But the fact is that many of our pilots were
from a small group of pilots who had been imprisoned
because they refused to bomb Sierra Maestra peasants. Our
Air Force had more planes than pilots, and it takes time to
train pilots.

The training of cadres is very important. Companero
Fernandez helped us a great deal in this regard. He is the
one who taught everybody here how to march, because he
studied in an academy. Our Sierra Maestra rebels did not
know how to stand or how to salute or how to march. This
veteran helped us a lot with aviation, with the formalities
of military life, with the organization of platoons, a
company, a battalion. We had platoons, companies,
battalions, and columns in Sierra Maestra, and some of them
were large and others small. Many recruits were trained as
volunteers.

We were bombed daily and lacked cigars, shoes,
clothes, and food. Many of the recruits went back home,
because Cubans are courageous but they also more readily
engage in heroic actions and combat than work methodically
and with discipline. No one could stand those cold days and
not because of the cold, because it was hot there almost
every morning; we had the daily visit of the planes.

We had to start from scratch to train the Army. We had
help also from other officers who had been in prison because
of their rebellion againts the tyranny or because of the
way they acted, or because they had joined us, but they
were too few, and Fernandez was tasked with directing the
School of Cadets. He blames [words indistinct], something
that many people do not find funny. We had the Turquino
Peak fever; we believed that whoever had not climbed the
Turquino a thousand times would never make a good
revolutionary. I think Fernandez holds the record.

Those who went to the school of cadres to become
cadres had to go through these tests.

There was the first course, as he explained, and the
second course. We considered the forces in Matanzas good
forces, shock forces. They are in the central region, not in
the capital. We began getting ready at a good pace. When
would they come? We did not have then the intelligence we
would develop later. We picked up news reports, we read.
But they control the media. The U.S. media was ordered not
to report on the organizing of the expedition, but there
were leaks. What are their plans? Will they try to form
guerrilla groups in the various regions of the country?
They had already formed groups in Escambray, and Escambray
had been cleaned out more than once. They introduced
weapons throughout the country. We wondered: What do they
plan? Generalized guerrilla warfare? It is more difficult
to capture small groups than troops. We wanted them to send
them all together. What would they do? We adopted
measures. We placed a militia platoon on each small beach of
the country. No place was left uncovered. Meanwhile, all
the provinces get their forces ready. If they chose to go
for one location, what place would they pick? We thought
about the Isle of Youth, where they could have planned to
create some sort of Taiwan. There were thousands of
counterrevolutionary prisoners and war criminals.

We then sent there tanks, infantry, cannons, and
turned the Isle of Youth into a fortification.

Could it be Escambray? This was a logical place. They
had organized many groups there. At one point, they had up
to 1,000 armed men in Escambray. They were experts in
evading our forces. I am not going to call them cowards.
There may have been mistaken, very mistaken people who were
personally courageous. I am not talking about personal
morals. We must not underestimate the enemy.

These people were the opposite of what we were in the
hills. When we were in the hills, we were always on the
offensive, organizing ambushes, raids. Those in Escambray
were always running away from revolutionary troops. They
had some peasant support, it was a minority support, but
nevertheless it was support. Perhaps 10, or 15, or 20
percent of the peasants supported them; no one can say
exactly how many. There, the war was waged in a different
fashion.

There was none of the intense political work that was
conducted in the eastern provinces. In fact, some of the
groups there had committed abuses. Escambray was weak from a
political standpoint. The counterrevolution began there.
Some former Batista army members went there. I repeat, on
occasions, they were able to group up to 1,000 men. We
conducted sweeps and reduced their numbers to 70 or 80.
After a few months, with encouragement from abroad, they
would rise up again. They always had the same concept,
being on the defensive, trying to escape, waiting for the
invasion to come, the Yankee invasion. So you can get an
idea of their strength, there was a time in which the
revolution deployed 50,000 men in Escambray from all the
provinces and most of them from the capital.

The whole Escambray was divided and surrounded; it was
divided into four parts and we began to put a squad on every
house. At one time, Escambray was possibly their favorite
site. It was mountainous, one had to advance along the
coast, it had an airport, and they had some degree of
internal support. But Escambray turned into another
impregnable fortress. We kept thinking we had Giron left,
and there was nothing in Giron. From the first year of the
revolution, we began to build highways, improve the living
standard of coal workers, families. The revolution built
three highway or three fundamental roads; one from
Australia to Playa Larga, the other from Yagujai to San
Blas, and there is another place, Almeida must remember it
[Unidentified speaker whispers: "Covadonga"] from Covadonga
to San Blas. That one had a V shape, two roads.

We were building two tourist centers, and the work was
pretty advanced. We were building schools. We built an
airfield. The enemy needed the airfield for his weapon
deliveries and to bring in the provisional government, which
was the true plan that was organized already. Those days
drew close with great activity in the revolutionary field,
with the activities I explained to you earlier: Sabotages,
armed groups, bandits in the countryside. But they were
waiting for the main thing and the corresponding unknowns,
how and where, whether they should subdivide the force they
were training or amass it.

That was of key importance. For that reason it was
very significant, although these things are always explained
and much has been written about them, although key aspects
remain to be written down, that we work out the problem and
be prepared for the two variations, if it consisted of
small groups we had to resist all the groups, or if
consisted of marshaling their forces, we had to have
sufficient force to destroy them. We were doing that,
waiting for the invasion at any time, when they began
bombing on 15 April in the early morning hours. That was a
monumental mistake on the part of the enemy. When they
attacked us the morning of the 15th, fabricated the story
about being defectors' airplanes, used a considerable force
as an air attack, we immediately realized that the invasion
would be coming in 24 hours or 48 hours.

Although part of the country was mobilized, we
immediately mobilized the whole country, all the forces. On
the 16th, approximately at this time, 35 years ago, after
we buried our comrades, a big rally was organized with tens
of armed militiamen on the corner of 2d and 23d Street. The
crowd filled up 23d Street for many blocks. The sentiment of
outrage was tremendous, as one can imagine. The people were
outraged. The revolution had advanced a great deal. We knew
that that was the price they wanted to make us pay for the
revolution. Although many of our measures, were merely
based on social justice, they could be accurately called
socialist measures. That means that the whole process of
aggression against Cuba accelerated revolutionary changes.

Socialism had to come one day, but many things
remained to be done first. We had not considered it the
moment to talk of the socialist nature. Many battles were
waged against anticommunism... [pauses] anticommunism was
imperialism's main ideological weapon in the midst of the
Cold War. We were not talking of socialism, however. On
that date, based on the facts, the acceleration of that
process, based on the enormous number of social justice
measures we had implemented, we considered ourselves
entitled to proclaim the revolution was socialist.

That was hailed all over the country by tens and
hundreds of thousands of armed men. If in Sierra Maestra we
fought to topple dictatorship and for social justice and the
liberation of our country, starting 17 April, with their
weapons in hand and willing to pay with their blood the
people clamored for socialism. [applause]

That was truly the moment to give a strong,
courageous, and defiant response, because Giron occurred
when we were surrounded by U.S. squads and we sort of told
them: If you wish to land, go ahead and land, because we
do not fear you, we do not fear you. This was our idea and
our determination.

This incident preceded the battle. We will not repeat
it. Our comrades wrote one detail more and less; one more
tank, one less tank. I requested two tanks [chuckles]
replicas of one I boarded with five projectiles [words
indistinct] this is history, anecdotes. I did not see them
fire one single cannon and when they saw a few tanks
advancing at full speed, the antitank units parted before
Jimenez. This was at the north. Advance was occurring
mainly through the west and also through the east [words
indistinct] in Playa Larga.

And another one was called Stalin, the big ones
equipped with 120-mm cannons that we drove along the border
of Giron toward the east when our men ended up clashing
with those of Cienfuegos, despite all warnings, but without
any tragic consequences [words indistinct] but each party
gives a different account on the hour, the place, the
minutes; whatever happened on every moment [words
indistinct] the developments, the facts, the details.

This is why one detail or another is missing everytime
there is a book or a declaration. There could be a detail
that time has distorted a little [passage indistinct]
[chuckles] everything has been published. Many comrades
participated and in a very courageous manner, in a heroic
and unselfish manner, with total commitment. All kinds of
forces participated: Cadets, those responsible for [word
indistinct] militiamen, policemen, who engaged in very
tough combat in western Giron, and peasants. The aviation
played a very prominent role. The Navy did not participate
more because our ships were in Havana. We loaded those
frigates with [words indistinct] in case they were taken
out by air the frigates of Havana were there. We did not
have military bases in the south.

Regular troops from (Banagua) and other units from the
capital had an outstanding participation. They brought the
first tanks and artillery. This led to decisive
developments. First, the attack was advanced 48 hours
[words indistinct] explain how they did this. And they
wanted to carry out a second attack but they could not fly
more planes, because there were antiaircraft units
protecting the three airports. This is why all the planes
were not destroyed. The airports were reinforced. They
talked about and thought about a second aerial attack on
the morning of 17 April. They did not carry it out, but it
was useless, because at dawn on 17 April all our planes
were in the air heading for Giron to attack the enemy
squad, the troops the invaders brought. This was a decisive
factor.

Another important factor was to quickly understand
[words indistinct] in the newspaper, because you referred to
the paratrooper. They started to drop paratroopers very
early because they [words indistinct] we learned very early
that paratroopers were being dropped. They dropped
paratroopers, and when they dropped the paratroopers there,
we immediately realized that was the main direction. When
the paratroopers arrived it was clear to us that if they
were being dropped in Covadonga, San Blas, Aguaramas,
(Palpite), and [words indistinct] on this side. They wanted
the paratroopers to occupy and seize the three roads by
dropping them on both sides of the Zapata Swamp. That swamp
cannot be crossed or bordered, because anyone going through
it would sink. They had tanks and antitank... [pauses] they
had nearly 100 antitank [words indistinct] it would have
been difficult to recover that position, very difficult and
if we had tried to recover it by foot through the swamp, it
would have been very costly. Thus, when at dawn we received
news that landings were taking place, we started to make
immediate mobilizations.

The most experienced unit we had at that time was the
one of Matanzas. We asked Fernandez [not further identified]
to deploy it to the operations zone; to the zone of Playa
Larga, which was the closest one. But at that time all
tanks were mobilizing in Havana. All cannons and all the
antiaircraft forces, all battalions. Everyone was mobilized.
The ships also because everyone had to be ready to advance.

There were only five [words indistinct] and there was
no highway. They left at full speed, but the problem was
that the presence of the enemy aircraft was active and
numerous. We did not know how many planes they had; there
was no way for us to determine if there were 20, 30, 40, or
100, and who were piloting them, because when they ran out
of Cuban pilots they started to use U.S. pilots.

All that armament including tanks, artillery, and
infantry was accompanied by antiaircraft units; there was a
lot of that. And they had instructions to advance up to
Jovellanos. Given that we did not know how many planes were
in the air we could not risk deploying those troops in
daytime beyond Jovellanos toward Giron. They were urged to
camouflage themselves as best they could and to wait.

The aircraft attacked the squad. Our soldiers endured
air attacks. We did not have more planes, but the important
thing was to leave us without the squad. This is why we
sustained casualties; because of this and because of the
deceit of bearing Cuban insignias. As it was darkening the
torrent of tanks, artillery, and everything else advanced in
that direction while those in Villa Clara also mobilized;
in other words, what the Central Army is today or already
was, because it was founded on 4 April. They mobilized with
all means to attack the area of Covadonga and Aguaramas.

In fact, we fought without respite, because I think
that what was important is that we did not give them one
minute of respite. The idea was to bring a provisional
government, call on the OAS to organize an intervention
involving four soldiers of each Latin American countries
and the rest of them North Americans. We could not give them
time to land their provisional government. That was the
reason we did not give them one minute of respite during
the combat [words indistinct] without communications.
Communications between towns via telephone had been
disrupted. Nothing could be spoken over the radio; we did
not even have radios. We had some tanks, trucks, and some
communication devices, but the swift movements that we had
to make along the highways... [pauses] those civilian
vehicles did not have but internal communications, they had
not communications with the exterior.

They should have resisted 44 hours [words indistinct]
it was a maneuver we should have carried out but we were
deceived twice. I am talking about the Americans, not the
mercenaries. During the burial, as I was speaking and about
to end when we received news that a squad was approaching
through western Havana [words indistinct] I thought this was
strange, they want to start in Havana. The landing in Playa
Larga had not yet occurred. I recall that I ended that
activity quickly [passage indistinct] and on the evening of
17 April in that area in (Palpite) I learned about a
landing through western Havana. I asked, is that confirmed?
I was told: Yes, confirmed; contact was made with the
[word indistinct] I was completely resigned. I was awaiting
some tanks for that maneuver [words indistinct] Playa Larga
to continue advancing through the west toward Giron before
dawn. Those in Giron encountered our tanks and could not
flee [words indistinct] lost its importance. I said all this
is very strange. I arrived in Havana and learned there had
been no landing. All this was very disappointing [words
indistinct] most of our means were in Havana.

There were frigates and ships with all... [pauses] 10
percent, 10 percent of the means we had was mobilized here,
if we do not count the air force. Well, whatever landed
in... [pauses] they would get beaten up. Of course they
would, because these were serious matters. We were here; it
was a 4-hour trip by land at high speed. They took four
hours from Havana to get here. They carried out two plans.
The first one was rather unsuccessful, because [words
indistinct] however, the second one was successful [words
indistinct] it lasted approximately 68 hours. It must have
lasted less than 48 hours; it must have lasted 46 or 44
hours. Sometimes when we remember this, Fernandez; it is
painful to us, because if the beating was considerable, we
would have liked it to be faster. [applause] These
memories are always painful; well, what else could we have
asked for? We were in peace [words indistinct] it was
logical for our people to attack; they attacked open places
and alongside straight roads because they could not flank
them; they attacked at a swamp. Airplanes that bore Cuban
insignias treacherously betrayed them.

This is how those days went by. We have already
explained many times what each one of us, the rebel Army,
the Interior Ministry, did. Our armed forces were already
formed by everyone who had a weapon. However, we still
needed the militia. The armies were organized in all the
main provinces and regions; we had nothing beyond the level
of battalions. Our highest level during the Playa Giron
invasion was the battalion level. I sincerely believe that
Playa Giron was a major feat by our people not only because
of what they did, but also because of what they were
willing to do. We had the confidence that the Yankees were
going to be defeated in Cuba, even though the price was very
high for us. The first Playa Giron, I mean, the first
Vietnam had reportedly been us. [applause]

I was mentioning the hundreds of thousands of weapons
we had; we had enough weapons. For each weapon we had, we
could take away 10 from the invaders. Since I believe in the
fight for the liberation of Cuba, 9 out of 10, it is an
estimate, weapons we had had been taken away from the
opposing army. Cuba had reportedly resisted, and thanks to
its heroism, it prevented that war. This was not the only
danger we faced; there were wars against rebels, wars
against terrorists, wars against bandits. There were times
in which we had groups of bandits in all the country's
provinces. There also were mercenary wars and frequent
mobilizations, because there were dangerous plans and news.
We had to mobilize the entire population.

I believe the October crisis constituted a victory
among victories, because the courage the entire nation
showed under those circumstances had no equal or
precedents. We had pirate attacks for years. We have had to
invest a great deal of resources and make many sacrifices
to defend this country in all these years of revolution.
The U.S. incessant blockade became more rigorous by the
day; the USSR and the socialist arena disappeared. I think
we won some kind of raffle; we no longer know who to blame:
Christopher Columbus, the British [laughs]. They did not
leave... [pauses] we are really pleased; this is the place
for us. History is the one that made this people. History
is difficult, difficult, difficult. First, the European
conquest, then the disappearance of almost the entire native
population; then slavery came. Hundreds of thousands of
slaves went to the provinces. The enslaving society, the
U.S. annexation attempts throughout centuries, and our
people's struggle in several independence wars to become
what we are today constitute the raw materials from which
these people were made.

The 10-year war; 10 years fighting [words indistinct]
I was remembering that today when the replicas of the
machetes [of Antonio Maceo] were handed out. The invasions.
When Latin America as a whole, almost at the same time,
liberated itself from Spain, that country had in Cuba more
soldiers than all it had together in Latin America. Up to
300,000 men in arms fighting against a small country! In my
opinion, all those historic factors have made possible what
Cuba is today. Those historic factors and the revolution!
What did they want to take away from us that 16 April?
What did they want to take away from us with that mercenary
invasion that they had not been able to take away from us
with their blockade of fuel, food, and machinery and their
subversive plans? They wanted to take away that by force,
through an invasion. They wanted to take everything away
from us, everything that is a source of pride for our
country.

I was reading a figure. The infant mortality rate was
7.5 percent in the first three months. That is truly
unbelievable. I do not expect we can maintain that. We would
have to be extremely optimistic. Never on a day like today,
however, would we have had an infant mortality rate of 7.5
percent with our health rates. How many rich nations,
nations with resources have this rate. In Washington, over
30 infants die for every 1,000 live births. Of course,
those who die are chiefly the children of black people.
White infants also die. There are many poor whites now,
under worse conditions than the others.

Thousands of schools, the more than 2 million children
students in primary schools. The almost 9,000 primary
schools we have today. The over 150,000 children in day-care
and preschool centers. There are hundreds of thousands,
over half a million, middle-level students. All the special
schools, all the art schools, everything that we watched
today. What would have remained of our public health,
education, and culture? What would have remained of this
country, if they had been able to take over at that time?

Our struggle today is even more worthy of merit. We
are fighting alone. Before, there was a time in which we
were alone but believed we were accompanied. Some lessons
[chuckles], such as the October crisis, and others taught
us. There is the accelerated withdrawal at full speed ahead
of that little brigade that remained here. By that time,
that was no secret. A long time ago, we realized that
Cubans and Cubans alone had to and could defend the
country, using the correct tactics to defend the country.
It is not Clausewitz' war games, but the war of the whole
people. [applause] That is how we made the revolution, and
that is how we have defended it, and that is how we can
continue defending it. There is no comparison.

It is a fact that these neighbors of ours are more and
more crazy, more and more ungovernable, more and more
confused, and slower with each passing day. This can lead
them to make mistakes. Major mistakes! We must always keep
this in mind. Feel fear? How can we even imagine fear
after all we have gone through? Sooner or later they will
have their own world, one they are looking for all on their
own.

They are seeking a world that will be less governable.
I have the conviction that some or all of our municipal
governments know more about politics that the U.S.
Government. [applause] Our municipalities govern better
than the U.S. Government. They have chaos dividing the
country between reactionary currents, more liberal
currents, division between reasonable and unreasonable
people.

They resort to all sorts of resources to encourage
ethnic fears, encourage fascist attitude and trends. To
begin with, not even they themselves are able or willing to
govern themselves. Because that chaos of hundreds of
millions of dollars in drugs, a crime wave tragedy that
continues to grow each year, that hatred toward the poverty
stricken, that desire to eliminate all pensions and social
gains which, one way or another, the people of the United
States have been entitled to for decades since the time of
Roosevelt... [pauses] There is the practice of always
wanting to govern the world, or tell each government what it
is supposed to do, of insulting presidents [chuckles].
Presidents whom they describe as friends [pauses], or
presidents of whom they say they are friends.

We also have the constant barrage of proconsul-like
statements usually made by U.S. ambassadors. We have the
conduct revealed during the 24 February incident, an
incident that could have been prevented, an incident that
had been foreseen by us, an incident which we had called
attention to on dozens of occasions. On this issue we have
some more information. However, sometimes it is always
useful to withhold some of the facts. It is quite useful.
We must always conduct ourselves as gentlemen, up to the
point when we have to deal with indecent people. You have
all been able to witness the handling, the countless number
of times the airspace was violated, and the ever-growing
ventures over our capital city. This is something which no
country in the world tolerates.

They have claimed those planes were in international
waters. Those planes are designed for war; they were
acquired from the U.S. Government, which used them in
Vietnam. We have been attacked with light aircraft many
times. We have been subject to bacteriological warfare.
They have used all means available against our country.
Their attempt to condemn us at the UN Security Council
[words indistinct] is shameless. Our morale is very high,
and we speak with the truth. We always speak the truth and
will be invincible with the truth and our morale. We shall
win battles in all the fields. [applause] We shall win
battles in all the fields we may have to fight. We wait. We
are patient. We have learned to be patient, as patient as
necessary to the point in which decorum can become
reconciled with patience. We are not warmongers or anything
of the sort. We are glad to mark here the 35th anniversary
that we celebrate today. We are glad for all the lives that
were saved. We are glad for our children who have grown
healthy, educated, and learned. We are glad for our
wonderful youth. We marvel at our heroic people. Yes, may
they live and may they live a long life. We know that to
live with dignity in this world we have to struggle. You
see each day on television what happens in the rest of the
world. The other day you saw a video of Mexican immigrants
who were brutally beaten; this beating has caused
indignation, repulsion. It was a woman! She did not receive
one or two blows but, rather, five, six, 10 blows! This
beating took place in front of the television cameras, so
who knows what happens behind the television cameras.
Persecutions, policemen, horses, dogs everywhere. There are
strikes every day. People are beaten up every day
everywhere. Thefts and more thefts, drugs and more drugs.
There is more and more loss of sovereignty. What is
happening in the world today is shameful, but it cannot go
on forever.

There is a growing number of people whose awareness is
being raised, who rebel, who are sickened, and turn adamant
when they see a hegemonic world, with a power capable of
telling the lies it tells, as it did here in Giron and like
the ones it tells all over the world. It would be a never-
ending thing to try to list them here, even as an example
of the lack of scruples and morals that exist in the heart
of that empire. Regardless of what the difficulties may
be, they are not greater than that of other countries, when
we compare our country's indexes with what is happening in
Latin America and Third World countries. They are really
subjugated and constantly repressed. Marti said that freedom
had a high cost and either one resigned oneself to live
without it or decided to pay the cost. That is one idea, I
do not know if he uttered those words exactly: Our
independence costs struggle, sacrifice, our dignity, our
honor, our right to progress, our tomorrow, our future. All
those things they want to take away from us have a very
high cost. But you and us, all of us, men and women, boys
and girls, all of us, those of us who have had the privilege
of knowing the pride and sense of what dignity and honor
are and what the fatherland is, of all those beautiful
things worth fighting for, are determined to pay its cost
because we will never resign ourselves to live without
them. [applause]

I do not want to take too long. Neither do I want to
forget to mention this province that welcomed us here with
its customary hospitality, its accomplishments and
achievements which we can refer to, for example, in one
unmistakable fact. In 1995, the province was able to attain
87.5 percent of the production value it had accomplished
prior to the special period. [applause] This is true,
progress, work, progress that can be seen. In addition, the
province is currently concentrated in a tough battle with
the sugar harvest. Unfortunately, the sugar harvest has not
always been supported by favorable weather, but always
backed by the disposition to grind up to the last
sugarcane. [applause]

Currently, we already have nearly half a million
metric tons of sugar more than last year. However, we are
still not satisfied and we still have go be on the lookout
for unfavorable climate. There are days when the climate is
nothing less than splendid. Just take a look at today.
Heavy clouds since noon up until 1700, and magnificent late
afternoon sun, on a special day such as today. [applause]

Let us hope the weather will continue to help us, and
for the tremendous forces dynamically unleashed during the
past weeks by our compatriots throughout the country to
prevail so that we can reach the end of this battle.
Without any doubt, this will be a demanding battle, but one
that will ultimately demonstrate the progress and
improvements we are obtaining despite the difficult moments
confronted.

Now, we are facing, not the Playa Giron mercenaries,
but another more dangerous kind of mercenaries, who want
greater hardships for our people, who want to hamper our
path as we are slowly recovering from that major disaster,
that tragedy, that the disappearance of the socialist camp
entailed and turned us into lonely soldiers as a people. In
this case I am not including the hundreds of millions of
people who sympathize with Cuba. We were turned into lonely
soldiers of mankind's loftiest causes, clean soldiers, and
pure soldiers without chains. We will resist despite those
adversaries I was alluding to.

They threatened us for so many years. The Helms-Burton
law. Perhaps all of you pronounce it as poorly as I do,
because, listen to this, we have received so many things in
the English language, that we forget good-bye [preceding
word in English] even. Although saying good-bye is no bad
thing. The peasants there in (Viranto) used to say goor-bye
[laughter].

They even threaten us with their weapons. They dare
to. We do not want a battle, we do not want war. We do not
have to act bravely. I believe that even they do not doubt
the courage of our people. We want peace. Again I repeat
this idea. We will strive for peace until the limit the
honor and dignity of our people and our sense of
responsibility allow. We do not want a victory like the one
in Giron, nor 100 victories like the one in Giron. What we
want is peace, health, welfare, life, things we will only
risk without hesitation whenever they become the price of
sovereignty, independence, honor, and freedom. I am
completely certain that all of you agree with this
principle, this idea.

Today we paid tribute to our martyrs. As a companero
said, by doing this we have paid tribute to all of those
who have fallen before and after the triumph of the
revolution. By doing this we pay tribute to the first Mambi
soldier who fell in our wars of independence. By doing this
we pay tribute to those who have and will have to die. With
it we pay tribute to our heroic people.

I try to imagine for one instant that moment in which
the responsible militia battalion of this historic school
marched to combat in Giron and did not stop until reaching
the culminating, key, and decisive point of the battle. Men
who were more or less young like the ones who are here. Men
and women like you.

They marched to combat. They marched to death. A
significant number of them died a short while afterwards and
a significant number was wounded in a very short time. If
there is something we wish with all our soul in a day like
today is that you, and all our fellow countrymen may always
be like those fighters, like those men and women.

Those people wrote one of the most brilliant pages in
our history for future generations which will not be
thinking about the dimensions of the neighbor, but about
the dimension of this small country that has been able to
resist for 35 years, and that is prepared to resist 35 more
years, and 35 times 35 years. [applause]

Today, when we commemorate another anniversary of the
day we proclaimed the socialist nature of our revolution
let's say this with pride, let's reaffirm now as we did
then, certain of our victory: Socialism or death!
Fatherland or death! We will prevail!

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